Currently browsing:News

This Council believes …. These Walls Must Fall!

Yesterday, Manchester City Council become the first local authority in Britain to pass a motion condemning immigration detention. You can read the motion here. The motion, proposed by Councillor Mahadi Sharif, was passed unanimously by the council. Here’s how it happened: Councillor @kelly4labour seconding the #TheseWallsMustFall motion at #Manchester council. We must send a message to the government: "enough is enough!" #unlocked17 — Right to Remain (@Right_to_Remain) November 29, 2017 Final #mcc business is @MahdiTaarwale, who… Read more »

“Why destroy instead of mending the broken?” These Walls Must Fall members respond to Yarl’s Wood inspection report

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, who conduct independent inspections of both prisons and immigration detention centres, have today released its report on its June 2017 unannounced inspection of Yarl’s Wood detention centre. You can read the report here. Yarl’s Wood is perhaps the most famous of the UK’s sites of detention (find out more about the others through the Unlocking Detention project), and holds around 300 people – mostly women, but also adult family groups and… Read more »

“When you see injustice – speak out!”: These Walls Must Fall in Manchester

Last Thursday human rights campaigners, union members, migrant rights groups, political representatives and other members of the public met in Manchester to campaign against immigration detention. Setting up for the big event at the historic Mechanics Institute. Follow us, @wallsmustfall and #TheseWallsMustFall for updates! pic.twitter.com/EAcln0LgrG — Right to Remain (@Right_to_Remain) November 2, 2017 Gathering at Manchester’s historic Mechanics Institute, at a campaign launch meeting organised with Uniet the Union Greater Manchester Social Action Branch, over… Read more »

The murals on the wall: local action against immigration detention

By Lisa Matthews, Coordinator at Right to Remain Immigration detention is a national policy, but we believe change will come from local communities calling for change at a local level. It is local communities that are being damaged and divided by detention, and it is from local communities that people are snatched and taken many miles away, locked up in detention centres indefinitely. Local people – constituents – have the power to influence their MPs… Read more »

“A place where one can be forgotten for a long time” – on the closure of The Verne

Last week, the government quietly announced that they will be closing the Verne – one of the nine immigration ‘removal’ centres (IRCs) sprawled across the UK. Luke Butterly of Right to Remain writes here about the closure in the context of the ongoing campaign to end detention. At anyone time around 3,000 migrants are held in these centres, and around 30,000 people pass through each year. People can be detained for months and sometimes years,… Read more »

The closure of the Verne detention centre – Detention Forum response

This is the response today from the Detention Forum to the news that The Verne Immigration Removal Centre is to close In a letter to key stakeholders, the Home Office has today announced the closure of The Verne Immigration Removal Centre. It is understood that the centre will be closed at the end of 2017 as ‘part of wider operational planning around the detention estate’ and will be re-purposed back into a prison. The Verne… Read more »

Victory in the High Court: redefinition of torture in detention policy is unlawful

The High Court has ruled that the UK government has been unlawfully holding survivors of torture in immigration detention. The challenge was raised by Medical Justice with solicitors from Bhatt Murphy and Duncan Lewis, on behalf of seven people, and could open the way to hundreds more legal claims of unlawful detention. It all stems from a cynical change in policy last year. According to the rules, and for reasons that should be obvious, survivors… Read more »

Abuse in Brook House: Freed Voices open letter

Freed Voices. Together we have lost over 20 years of our lives to detention in the UK. Last night’s Panorama, “Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets“, showed horrific scenes of abuse and mistreatment of people in detention. This is something anyone who has been detained can relate to. Sadly, it is neither unique nor isolated – it is routine in detention. Freed Voices members have been detained across the country and we all share the same stories of violence, emotional abuse… Read more »

How to get your MP working in the campaign against indefinite detention

Why you need to speak to politicians now: how to use Detention Forum’s latest briefing paper on immigration detention This post is by the the Detention Forum: Our latest parliamentary briefing paper, Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom is now available. You can download it here. Now is the time that you speak to your MPs, Peers and your communities about the urgent need for detention reform, starting with a time limit. Here is why.… Read more »

Right to Remain response to the BBC Panorama revelations

Detention is violent, harmful and immoral By Right to Remain Tonight, BBC Panorama broadcast undercover footage filmed in Brook House detention centre. The footage was extremely upsetting – showing staff verbally abusing people in detention in very vulnerable situations, and reporting their own physically abusive behaviour. The programme showed just how dehumanising detention is – of both those detained, and those that work there. “If he dies, he dies” said one guard about a man… Read more »